


Fever

by RadarsTeddyBear



Series: Ducktober 2018 [29]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Dreams, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e19 The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!, Fever, Fictober, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Sickfic, The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck (as a nightmare), Whump, prompt: fever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 20:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16456679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadarsTeddyBear/pseuds/RadarsTeddyBear
Summary: Lena's sick with a very bad fever and has a lot of very bad dreams while Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley take care of her.





	Fever

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: ["Fever"](http://radarsteddybear.tumblr.com/post/169006603389/whumpreads-i-dont-draw-but-ive-been-thinking).  
> Takes place some time after Lena is freed from being Webby's shadow and returns to her corporeal form.

Lena lay in bed, sleeping fitfully.  Scrooge sat next to her, worry carved into his face.  He bathed her hot brow with cool water.

“There, there, lass.  Everything’s all right.  You’re safe here.”

The door opened and Mrs. Beakley came in carrying fresh linens and a pitcher of water.  She shut the door with her foot and put them down on the floor.

“How is she?” she asked.

“Much the same.”  Scrooge placed his hand on her forehead, frowning when he felt her temperature.  “She hasn’t woken, but she’s not sleeping peacefully, either.”

Mrs. Beakley nodded and glanced out the window.  Thick snow fell from the sky, as it had been for the last week, preventing anyone from going much of anywhere.  It had been a miracle that they’d been able to get a doctor, but there wasn’t much she’d been able to do. Just tell them to keep Lena comfortable until the virus ran its course.  Call again if her fever rose above 104°F or if she wasn’t keeping liquids down.

“I should change the sheets,” Mrs. Beakley said.

“Already?”  Scrooge rubbed the bridge of his nose.  “Can’t we wait until…” he trailed off, not wanting to put it into words.

Mrs. Beakley pursed her beak.  “I’m not sure if that doesn’t make it worse.”

Scrooge nodded.  “All right.” He bent down.  “Lena, darlin’, we’re going to change the sheets again, ok?”

Lena, of course, didn’t respond.  Mrs. Beakley gently lifted her head and removed the pillow from behind it.  Scrooge took her head as Mrs. Beakley changed the pillowcase. Lena’s breathing remained ragged.  

“Aunt Magica...no…” she began to mumble, and her brow furrowed

Mrs. Beakley replaced the pillow under Lena’s head and Scrooge gently lowered her head down onto it.  Scrooge removed the blankets, and Mrs. Beakley rolled Lena to his side of the bed. Lena startled and cried out, reflexively reaching out to hold onto Scrooge as if she thought she were falling.

“Everything’s all right, Lena, we’re just changing the sheets,” Mrs. Beakley soothed.  She removed the half of the dirty sheets on her side of the bed and carefully replaced them with clean ones.  Scrooge murmured soothing words to her, hoping that she could hear.

When Mrs. Beakley finished, she nodded, and together, they carefully rolled Lena to the now clean side of the bed.  Lena cried out again.

“No, I’m sorry!  I tried--don’t hurt me!”

Mrs. Beakley and Scrooge switched sides and Mrs. Beakley quickly finished changed the sheets.  Scrooge held onto Lena, stroking her hair and reassuring her that she was safe and that nothing bad was happening.

Finally, Mrs. Beakley was done, and Scrooge rolled Lena back to the middle of the bed and tenderly tucked her back in.  He held her hand and stroked her forehead, continuing to reassure her, until she she quieted. He drew a weary sigh of relief and sank back down into his chair.  Mrs. Beakley changed the tepid water in the bowl at Lena’s bedside table for cool water from the pitcher.

“You should get some rest,” she said.

Scrooge shook his head.  “I’m not leaving this room.”  

“Then don’t leave.  Rest in here. I’ll watch over her for a while, and if anything happens, you’ll be right here.”

Scrooge stared at the tween in front of him.  He was filled with guilt at the thought of leaving her side, but Beakley was right.  He nodded.

“All right,” he said, and Mrs. Beakley went to get the blow up mattress.

 

* * *

 

Lena was walking through the old, abandoned amphitheater that she called home.  It looked different than she remembered, even more abandoned, somehow. The wind blew, making Lena shiver.  The shadows seemed longer, the columns and structures more crumbling. It seemed darker, too--Lena wasn’t sure what time of day it was, but the lighting seemed wrong.  It seemed too big in there, too. Or maybe Lena was too small.

“Lena…” a voice said, seeming to circle around her.

Lena spun around.

“Who-who’s there?”

“Lena…”

“What do you want?”  Lena started walking towards the exit of the amphitheater.

“Lena…”

“Leave me alone!”  Lena broke into a run, but no matter how fast she went, she didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

“Lena…”

The voice was getting louder.

“Go away!”

“Lena…” The shadows started to move.

“Leave me alone!”

Lena saw something red and glowing out of the corner of her eye.

“Someone, help!”

The shadows gathered together in front of her, forming a terrifyingly familiar shape.  Lena skidded to a stop and tried to run the other way, but the somehow the shadow was still in front of her.  It grew and grew until it was about to swallow Lena up, and it grinned.

“Hello, Lena,” Aunt Magica said.

Lena threw her arms over her face.  “Don’t hurt me!”

 

* * *

 

Duckburg was in ruins.  The sky was dark, buildings had turned to rubble, and people were running away from robots and laser beams.  Magica floated by in a sphere of pink magic, closely followed by her army of shadows, blasting people left and right.  This was Lena’s fault. Somehow, it was Lena’s fault. She needed to fix it. But how could she fix it?

The world fell away and Lena was on the road leading to McDuck Manor.  Magica was there, and so was Scrooge.

“It’s payback time, Scroogey,” Magica said, and she started to blast him with her magic.  Scrooge dodged and ducked, but she still hit him. Again and again and again and again until he was lying in a heap on the floor.

“Stop!” Lena shouted.  She wanted to run to him, to make Magica stop, but she couldn’t move.  “Get up!” she yelled. Magica just laughed and kept blasting him.

“That’s what you get for trapping me in your dime!” she said, holding her staff like a cannon.

“No!”

 

* * *

 

Then Lena was in a small, windowless room.  In front of her stood a pedestal with a coin perched on a pillow on top.

“Take the dime!”  Magica’s eyes, huge, big enough to fit all three of the triplets with room to spare, glowed red in front of her.  Lena reached out and took the coin, and electric red magic sizzled out and grabbed her, encasing her in Magica’s shadow.  Lena tried to run, but she was stuck tight.

Magica pulled herself out of Lena’s body, tangible but still a shadow.  “Ooooh, that felt good.” She finished stepping out of Lena’s body, severing their connection.  “With the dime in my hands, nothing can stand in my way!”

Lena ran, but Magica froze her in place and pulled her back until Lena’s throat was in her hands.

“You deserve a hug,” Magica said, wrapping her cold, shadowy arms around her as she trembled.

Then, Webby came in, having cut through the door with the diamond dagger Lena had left outside.   _Run!_ Lena wanted to shout, but her beak wouldn’t move.

Magica dropped Lena to the floor and turned her attention to Webby, who quickly noticed that the dime was missing from its pillow.  Webby slashed at Magica and told Lena to run.

“Why?” Magica said, curling around Lena.  “She’s been working for me.”

The look of devastation on Webby’s face broke Lena’s heart.  All she could do was look away.

Webby turned and ran, calling for Scrooge, but _zap!_  Magica turned her into a Quacky Patch doll.

“Webby!  No!” Lena yelled.

Lena looked at Webby’s stuffed form, silently willing her to move.  Then she turned to Magica. “What are you doing?”

“Exactly what you’ve been doing the whole time.  Using her. Pulling her strings. Here; allow me to demonstrate the delightful irony.”  Magica reached into the wall, her arm returning to its two-dimensional shadow form, and fastened her fingers to Webby to turn her into a marionette.

“Scrooge this!  Scrooge that!” Magica said in a horrible, mocking imitation of Webby’s voice, pulling her around the room.  “Pink stuff! Hi, I’m Webster!” Magica switched to her own voice. “Or whatever.”

“Her name is Webby!” Lena said.

“Who cares?” Magica shot back, shoving the Webby doll into her face.  “I mean, you don’t! You were just using her, right? Like a tool! What’s the matter?  Do you miss your friend?”

“Change her back!” Lena said.  “Please! I wasn’t using her! She’s my friend!”

“Oh, posh,” Magica said with a flick of her hand.  “A friendship like that would never work out. Especially now that she knows who you are.”  Magica’s form grew, and she reached out her hand. “Now: Give. Me. The dime!”

Magica’s hand collided with a shield of magic coming from Lena’s amulet.  

“No!  I’m not your puppet anymore!”

“Is that so?” Magica said, her voice dangerous.  “Luckily, I have a spare!”

Lena gasped as Magica used Webby to attack her.

“You’re not my friend!” the Webby doll said between blows.  “You’re a coward! A traitor!”

Lena fell to the ground, and her amulet began to glow.

“No!  Webby, this isn’t you!”

“I know who you really are: a monster, just like your aunt!”

Webby came at her again, and Lena shut her eyes.  She knew what was coming.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “I’m not a monster. I didn’t want this to happen.  I’m sorry...”

But instead of Lena’s amulet blasting the Webby Quacky Patch doll to dust, or even said doll crashing into Lena at full force, everything suddenly got...quiet.  Lena was lying down on something soft, and her eyes were closed, and something cool and wet was stroking her face. Someone was saying something, too, but she couldn’t make out any words.  It sounded like...Mr. McDuck?  He didn’t sound angry or upset, but...

Lena cautiously opened her eyes.  She was in her room in McDuck Manor, and Mr. McDuck was sitting at her bedside, very much in one piece.  Lena sat up.

“Lena?” Mr. McDuck said, his voice low and soothing.

“What…” Lena started.  She concentrated hard, trying to figure out what was going on.  “Where’s Webby?”

“Webby?” Mr. McDuck said.  “Why, I’d imagine she’s downstairs with the boys.”

“Is--”  Lena licked her dry beak.  “Is she ok?”

Mr. McDuck looked at Lena first with confusion, and then with some kind of sadness.  “She’s fine, lassie. _You’re_ the one we’ve all been worried about.”

“Me?” Lena said in surprise.  “But--”

Mr. McDuck pressed the palm of his hand to her forehead, then felt it again with the back of his hand.  He got up and went to the door.

“Beakley!” he called.

Lena had never heard Mrs. Beakley’s footsteps go so fast.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Do ye have the thermometer?”

Mrs. Beakley walked right passed Mr. McDuck and went over to Lena.  She pressed her own hand against Lena’s forehead.

“How are you feeling, Lena?” Mrs. Beakley asked kindly.

How _was_ she feeling?  She was kind of tired, and her muscles kind of ached, she still felt kind of uneasy from...well, they must have been dreams, right?

But instead of saying any of that, Lena shrugged.  “Ok, I guess.”

Mrs. Beakley pulled out the thermometer and slipped it into Lena’s mouth.  It beeped after a few moments, and she checked it.

“Her fever’s broken,” she said to Mr. McDuck, relief visible on her face.  “You gave us quite the scare, dear.”

“I did?”

“You had that fever for four days, from the morning after we got back from Romania,” Mr. McDuck said.  “You didnae seem to know up from down. Scared us half to death.”

“Oh.”  That was an awfully long time to be so sick.  “Did it have anything to do with my...with Aunt--”

“It didn’t have anything to do with Magica,” Mr. McDuck assured her.  “We won’t be hearing from her any time soon.”

“Good,” Lena said.  “Can--can I see Webby?”

Mrs. Beakley smiled.  “Of course. I’ll go get her.”  She put the thermometer back into her pocket.  “How about I get you something to eat, too?”

Now that Mrs. Beakley mentioned it, Lena realized that she was a little hungry.

“Ok,” she said.

Mrs. Beakley nodded and left.  Barely a minute later, Webby came barreling into the room, clearly forcing herself to slow down after she burst into the room.

“Lena!” she yelled, and then clamped her hands around her beak.  “Lena!” she said, much more quietly this time.

“Webby!” Lena said, relieved to see her best friend safe and in one living piece.  

“How are you feeling?” Webby asked.

“Ok,” Lena said.  “What about you?”

“Me?  I’m fine,” Webby said.  She fidgeted next to the bed for a moment, and then asked, “Can I give you a hug?”

Lena smiled.  “Well, I think I can allow it, just this once.”  She held out her arms, ready to reach over the bed, but instead Webby jumped onto the bed and held her tight.  Lena returned the embrace. After all those nightmares, feeling Webby safe and warm and _alive_ was the best medicine she could have asked for.


End file.
